Since then, the dog master has stopped keeping dogs, but the people in the village still call him that. Cha Wenbin quietly listened to the dog master while bowing his head to origami, while telling him the story of the year, from the face of this old man who was full of sixtieth armor, through the wrinkles left by those years, he can still distinguish his romance and uninhibitedness.

"How could you?" Cha Wenbin pointed to the pile of ingots he stacked and said. This ingots are not bad, and they use the usual Taoist techniques, not the folk kind, and people who have not learned it will not get it.

The dog master stopped the movement in his hand, gently put a folded ingots on the ground, wanted to say something, stopped his mouth, stood up and said: "There is still a little game in winter at home, and we will have a good cup at night." ”

Riding the dog master down the kitchen, Cha Wenbin led the basket full of ingots out of the yard door, and the snow outside was still very heavy. He drew a circle in the snow with a stick, then poured all the ingots into the circle and lit a fire.

These ingots were burned to distant relatives, and he couldn't go to the grave this year, so he could only carry them in this way. Although on this day, Chaozi Dashan and Zhuo Xiong had already done what he had to do for him, but he still silently recited the names of his relatives in his mouth, pious and quiet, at this moment he really did not look like a Taoist priest, but a lost stranger.

After placing tributes in the circle and lighting incense and candles, Cha Wenbin stood in this snow-covered village, was this an escape? He also did not know, he knew that when he followed the heavens, the heavens did not follow him; When he was against the sky, God didn't do anything to him, and occasionally he would dream that there was a bull head and a horse face guarding him, but the frequency of appearing became less and less. Cha Wenbin naturally understood that it was not that they planned to let him go, but that he himself was becoming more and more fierce, so fierce that even Yin Cha began to fear him.

The Tao is born from the heart, and the mind can only be enlightened, but now he is too angry, and the heart of killing dominates everything, is this still the original Tao? Whenever he reminded himself that he needed to be calm, there was always a voice in his heart that told him that killing one person was slaughter, killing a hundred people was a demon, and killing ten thousand people was a king.

"You're homesick, it's the New Year, you shouldn't look like I'm a bachelor." The dog master also came out at this time, holding two earthen jars in his hands, which were still steaming. Cha Wenbin turned around and didn't answer, the dog master smiled, pointed to the jar and said: "It's sent to a poor person, it's the New Year today, if you're okay, go with me to see, you know fortune telling, if you have a fate, you can also show people and show you the way out." ”

To the west of the village was a small low bungalow, the walls covered with spots of dried yellow mud, and a broken courtyard door with three holes in it bobbing back and forth in the whistling north wind.

Today is the thirtieth year of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and the chimney of this house is not smoking, and there are neither couplets nor blessing characters on the door. Although the snow was very thick, Cha Wenbin could still tell that the yard had not been taken care of for a long time.

The dog master walked with the jar and said to Cha Wenbin: "This used to be the warehouse of the production team, and a friend of mine lived in it, and I had to come once a day. ”

When I entered the house, the smell in the house was a little unpleasant, mixed with dampness and various peculiar smells, even in the afternoon, the light in the house was still very poor. There is no glass on the windows, and the plastic film used in the countryside is used, many of which have been broken, and some are completely bare. In the middle of winter, the icy north wind was pouring into the house, and Cha Wenbin thought to himself if there were still people living here?

The house was not big, only two rooms, one was a messy pile of messy things, and there were two burnt black bricks on the ground, and the ashes between the bricks had turned white, and it seemed that no one had used them for some days. In the corner of the southwest corner, there was a broken table, on which was enshrined a spirit tablet, and the two small bowls in front of the table were covered with red candle oil, and the rest of the incense burner was all burnt wooden sticks.

To Cha Wenbin's surprise, there was a portrait of Lao Jun in the sky hanging on the wall, the criss-crossed spider webs had completely covered Lao Jun's beard, and the yellowed paper was slightly curled because of moisture, which seemed to be a bit old.

I don't know if it's in Laojun's portrait or something else, Cha Wenbin took out three sticks of incense from his pocket, lit them and inserted them into the incense burner, and then turned around to look at the dog master's friend.

In another room, a white-haired old man with dirt on his face was leaning on the bed and eating what the dog had fed him. Because he was in such a hurry to eat, he burned his tongue, and the white-haired old man trembled, almost letting the scalding in the jar splash on the dog's hands.

The dog master scolded: "Eat so fast, hurry up on the road?" The New Year, and no one robbed you, you have been this virtue all your life, and you deserve to be like a bird. ”

Beside the white-haired old man, there was also a child who looked a little confused, but he was ** years old, wearing a dark blue cotton jacket, but the cotton tires had been turned outside, and the face was completely cracked because it was dirty or frozen, and there was a jar in front of him, and he was stirring it with a dirty spoon.

The old man and the boy didn't seem to notice the stranger at all, and only cared about their own food, perhaps because they had been hungry for too long. When the dog saw Cha Wenbin coming, he wanted to beckon him to sit, but he was embarrassed to find that there was not even a place to stay in this room, so he had to scratch his head and say, "Like you, he was also a Taoist priest in the past." ”

The white-haired old man paused slightly, as if he wanted to raise his head to look at the living man, but his brow was only halfway raised and then lowered again, and then he continued to drink soup and eat meat.

The dog master seemed to be used to it, and pointed to the child and said, "This is his grandson and his lifeline." The boy looked up and listened to the dog introduce himself. His name is Hetu, Hetu hurry up and call Uncle Cha, after eating for a while, Grandpa Dog will give you a red envelope. ”

With just one glance, Cha Wenbin felt that the child's eyes were crystal clear, no matter how sloppy the clothes on the child's body and how dirty his face was, he couldn't stop the fine light that shot out of his eyes.

The boy did not shout according to the dog's intentions, but turned his head to look at the white-haired old man, who was still stuffed with food in his mouth, and said vaguely: "Eat quickly!" The boy lowered his head and continued to pull at the contents of the jar, without making a sound.

The dog master scolded: "The grandfather and grandson have a virtue, you old immortal better return to the west as soon as possible, lest this little one suffer with you." ”

When the two grandsons were eating and drinking, Cha Wenbin's eyes kept staring at the child named Hetu, and when they finished eating, the dog master wrapped a red envelope for the child.

The dog master looked at the child with some pity, touched his head and said, "Take it, as long as the dog grandfather is still there, you also have what others have." ”

"Okay, old thing, I should go back to the whole table of wine and food, I have friends with me this year." He pointed at Cha Wenbin and said, and then prepared to go home, these two people haven't eaten yet.

"Ahem, ahem." The white-haired old man who was sleeping on the bed coughed violently and said in a hoarse voice: "Old dog, I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you a little more tonight." ”

The dog master took the jar and pedaled and said, "As far as you have a lot of and urine, tonight is the Chinese New Year's Eve, I don't want to find bad luck in you, hurry up and fall asleep after eating." ”

The white-haired old man looked at him, stopped talking, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "You better come here." ”

"No, it's snowing so hard that someone will freeze to death, you might as well go to the widow's house to roast the fire." As he spoke, the dog master pulled Cha Wenbin out of the door, but when Cha Wenbin arrived at the door, he said: "Don't worry, senior, I will come before twelve o'clock." ”

The old man on the bed was shocked, and then he raised his hand that was similar to the old bark and touched his grandson's forehead, and actually smiled.

Later, I heard Hetu say that it was the first time he saw his grandfather laughing, and it was also the last time.

The footprints left by the two just now will be covered by a shallow layer of snow, Cha Wenbin looked up at the sky, those snowflakes floated to his face, and after a while, even his eyes were covered.

"What are you doing here at night? Don't worry about him, just this stinky temper, sixty-year-old man, he doesn't know how to change at all, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen into such a field, hey. The dog shook his head helplessly, and patted Cha Wenbin's shoulder again to signal that he could go.

Standing in this somewhat dilapidated courtyard, Cha Wenbin glanced back and said lightly: "Tonight, he is really leaving." ”

The dog's body stiffened, and he stood in the snow for a long, long time